More than half of U.K. motorist have serious gaps in their insurance coverage

The results of a recent survey performed by ALA, an independent insurance broker, has determined that over 75 percent of drivers in the United Kingdom do not have enough auto insurance to cover them if their vehicle were ever to be stolen or written off.

According to the survey entitled “Mind the Gap”, the issue among British drivers is that 77 percent of them have not obtained enough coverage to match the value of their vehicle – or at a bare minimum, very affordable financing – should it need to be replaced outright.

ALA has recommended that these underinsured drivers should make up for their insurance shortfall with Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP). This helps drivers to make certain that their car’s full value is covered, should it ever need to be replaced.

The research included 2,055 UK adult participants and discovered that one tenth of them had purchased their cars with the assistance of an auto loan from the bank and an additional 11 percent bought theirs on an installment plan. Both of these types of purchase increase a car owner’s risk of having to make costly repayments should their car ever be totaled or stolen.

The age group at the highest risk of this problem, according to the survey, are car owners between the ages of 25 and 34.

A further 14 percent purchased their car on finance, while 16 percent bought their vehicle using a personal loan.

As 10 percent of the participants in this study said that their car had been totaled within the last twelve months, and 6 percent claimed that their car was stolen during this time, it is clear that there is a significant risk of being stuck with those expensive repayments without the help of GAP insurance.